Method and device for treating kapok or the like preparatory to spinning



Oct. 25, 1955 R. VRANCKX-DEROOVER METHOD AND DEVICE FOR TREATING KAPOK OR THE LIKE PREPARATORY TO SPINNING Filed Feb. 24, 1951 United States Patent METHOD AND DEVICE FOR TREATING KAPOK OR THE LIKE PREPARATORY TO SPINNING Rosalie Vranckx-Deroover, Brussels, Belgium Application February 24, 1951, Serial No. 212,629

Claims priority, application Switzerland March 14,1950

2 Claims. c1. 19-400 The invention relates to the treatment of kapok and the like by carding with the view of forming a card web from ventilated or non-ventilated kapok, which will be apt to be converted into yarn capable of being woven. Ventilated kapok is kapok which has been treated in a relatively hot atmosphere in a blowing apparatus to remove dirt and sometimes to admix silk or cotton waste. However, the nature of kapok or like textile materials having short, smooth, fragile and low-adherence fibres has caused great difliculties, since exceptional precautions must be taken to avoid the deterioration of the fibres and secure the formation of a homogeneous web capable of being turned into a strong yarn suitable for spinning.

The present invention relates to a method and device which make it possible to overcome the aforesaid difficulties. The method of the invention essentially consists in that kapok is charged onto a card swift so as to form a layer whose thickness practically corresponds to the height of the staples or wires of the clothing of the swift; that the said layer is treated down to a fraction of its thickness by workers; and that a doffer removes from the said swift a web of kapok whose thickness corresponds to a fraction of the thickness of the layer treated by the said workers. The device according to the invention includes essentially a large swift, means for conveying the lap of kapok to the said swift, at least two workers arranged relatively adjacent one another at the upper portion of the said swift and effective in packing and evening the lap, two brushers each cooperating with one of the workers, arranged at a very small distance from the swift and effective in bringing back thereto such fibres as may be carried round by the said workers, a small dofiing carder adapted to initiate the doffing of the kapok web formed by the said workers, and a large doffer to lift out the kapok fleece from the swift.

Further features and advantages of the invention will appear from the disclosure of one embodiment thereof given hereinafter by way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrammatical drawing, which shows a general view of a device according to the invention.

In the drawing, 1 indicates a table on which a kapok lap is fed so as to be grasped by a press roller 2, from whence it is fed to a charger 3 furnished with straight staples. The latter charges the lap onto the large swift or drum 4, which is furnished with bent wires or staples, thus carrying the said lap upwards. A first worker 5 which is provided with bent staples, produces the packing, i. e. fills the kapok into the clothing of the swift 4 and equalizes the kapok lap. A brusher 6 having a clothing of soft bristles is slightly spaced away from the drum 4 and cooperates with the worker 5 to clean the latter by removing such kapok as may be carried round by the clothing of the worker, such kapok being brought back onto the periphery of the drum by the brusher. A further worker 7 is placed, adjacent the first worker 5 and completes the action thereof, while a brusher 8, similar to the brusher 6, cooperates with the said second worker. The so formed kapok web is then subjected to the action of a dofiing carder furnished with long, straight wires, which detaches partially the kapok fleece and prepares the latter to enable its removal from the drum 4 by the dolfer 10 furnished with short, straight wires setin much closer formation than those of the great drum 4. The web is removed from the do'ffer 10 by a usual doffer comb of the cotton doifer comb type provided at the right of the doffer 10 and is then folded over and ca'lendered to' form a highly resistant and uniform sliver which is'subjected to a'drafting and a twisting operation, to convert it into a strong yarn, capable of being woven.

The wires of the clothing of the workers 5, 7 enter the clothing of the drum 4 merely partially preferably less than half the height of the wires of the latter. Moreover, the wires of the 'dofi'er 10- enter to a still'smaller depth into the clothing of the -drun1"'4. At start, the feed of kapok is adjusted so as to charge the clothing of the drum 4 up to practically the total height of its wires. The outer layer will be worked upon efficiently by the rollers 5 and 7 While the cylinder 10 will remove part of the so treated layer. The kapok feed is made to suit the amount thus removed.

The. layer of kapok that remains permanently on the drum 4 has the advantage of forming a flexible support for the kapok under carding and of providing a layer of kapok having previously undergone carding, which is worked together with the raw kapok carried along by the cylinder 3, which secures a more regular web. Moreover, the kapok remaining on the drum, thus enables the new fresh lap fed onto the drum to be more conveniently grappled thereby.

The nature of the clothings of the various drums and cylinders or rollers, as also the relative speed of these parts are of great importance, and, by adjusting these features, it has been possible to obtain that the treatment is effected without deterioration or wear on the kapok fibres, and, practically, without ventilating same.

According to the invention good results are obtained if the linear velocities are adjusted in such a way that the speed of the roller 9 which is greatest, is twice that of the drum 4, which, in turn, is one and one-half times as great as that of the roller 3. The linear speed of roller 3 is substantially three times that of rollers 5 and 7, while the speed of rollers 5 and 7, in turn, is three times that of the cylinder 10.

The linear speed of the brushes 6 and 8 is smaller than that of cylinder 10. The various velocities are obtainable by means of a suitable motor 11 and transmission system such as shown diagrammatically in the accompanying drawing.

Moreover, it has been found suitable to use for the rollers 3, 9 and 10 clothings having a much greater number of teeth per unit area than that of the drum 4; on

the other hand, all the bent wires, which are e. g. of brass, should be flexible.

It will be understood that the invention is not restricted to the example described and illustrated, since several modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a method of treating kapok or the like preparatory to spinning, the steps of feeding the raw kapok onto a carding drum to form a layer having a thickness corresponding substantially to the height of the staples of the clothing of said drum, forming a web by first working a substantial fraction of the upper portion of the thickness of the said layer by means of small workers cooperating with the drum, returning the worked fibres to the drum, and removing from said drum, by means of a doffer, a web of kapok having a thickness less than made the thickness of the layer operated upon by the said Workers. a

2. A device for treating kapok preparatory to spinning, including a large carding drum, a feeding roller for depositing a lap of kapok on said drum, a plurality of small workers disposed adjacent each other along the portion of said drum constituting the top and adapted for packing and evening said lap, a plurality of brushes operatively engaging said workers disposed at a small distance from said drum adapted to return thereto fibers carried around by said workers, a small dofiing carder for starting the doffing and a large doffer for dotfing the kapok web from said drum, said Workers being provided with staples adapted to enter the wire on the carding drum a fraction substantially one-half of the height of said Wire and said doffer being provided with staples adapted to enter said wire to a smaller depth than said staples on said workers and said staples on said dotfer being more densely disposed thereon than the wire on said carding drum, said device including motor means,

dotfer.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 215,501 Barker May 20, 1879 906,993 Bates et a1. Dec. 15, 1908 1,019,355 Poirier Mar. 5, 1912 1,625,868 Platt et al. Apr. 26, 1927 2,115,605 Allen et al. Apr. 26, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS 70,860 Austria Jan. 10, 1916 416,070 Great Britain Sept. 10, 1934 631,561 France Sept. 27, 1927 

